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United States presidential election, 1860
 
 
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The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
. The nation had been divided throughout most of the 1850s on questions of states' rights and slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 in the territories. In 1860 this issue finally came to a head, fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic Party into Southern and Northern factions and bringing Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
 and the Republican Party
History of the United States Republican Party

The Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States....
 to power without the support of a single Southern state.

The immediate result of Lincoln's victory was declarations of secession
Secession in the United States

Attempts or aspirations of secession have been a feature of the politics of the United States since the country's birth. The line between actions based on a constitutional right of secession as opposed to actions justified by the extraconstitutional natural right of revolution has shaped the political debate....
 by South Carolina and other states, which were rejected as illegal by the then-current President, James Buchanan
James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
 and President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

origins of the American Civil War lay in the complex issues of slavery, competing understandings of federalism
Federalism

Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units ....
, party politics
Second Party System

The Second Party System is a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to name the political system existing in the United States from about 1828 to 1854....
, expansionism
Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny is the historical belief that the United States was destined and divinely ordained by God in Christianityto expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean....
, sectionalism
Sectionalism

In national politics sectionalism is often a precursor to separatism.....
, tariffs, economics
Panic of 1857

The Panic of 1857 was a sudden downturn in the economy of the United States that occurred in 1857. A general recession first emerged late in 1856, but the successive failure of banks and businesses that characterized the panic began in mid-1857....
, and modernization in the Antebellum
Antebellum

"Antebellum" is an expression derived from Latin that means "before war" .In United States history and historiography, "antebellum" is commonly used, in lieu of "pre-Civil War," in reference to the period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American Civil War....
 Period.

After the Mexican-American War, the issue of slavery in the new territories
Historic regions of the United States

These are historic regions of the United States, meaning regions that were legal entities in the past, or which the average modern American would no longer immediately recognize as a regional description....
 led to the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of bills aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War ....
.






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Encyclopedia


The United States presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War
American Civil War

The American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several Naming the American Civil War, was a civil war in the United States....
. The nation had been divided throughout most of the 1850s on questions of states' rights and slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 in the territories. In 1860 this issue finally came to a head, fracturing the formerly dominant Democratic Party into Southern and Northern factions and bringing Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
 and the Republican Party
History of the United States Republican Party

The Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States....
 to power without the support of a single Southern state.

The immediate result of Lincoln's victory was declarations of secession
Secession in the United States

Attempts or aspirations of secession have been a feature of the politics of the United States since the country's birth. The line between actions based on a constitutional right of secession as opposed to actions justified by the extraconstitutional natural right of revolution has shaped the political debate....
 by South Carolina and other states, which were rejected as illegal by the then-current President, James Buchanan
James Buchanan

James Buchanan, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the last to be born in the 18th century....
 and President-elect Abraham Lincoln.

Background

The origins of the American Civil War lay in the complex issues of slavery, competing understandings of federalism
Federalism

Federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units ....
, party politics
Second Party System

The Second Party System is a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to name the political system existing in the United States from about 1828 to 1854....
, expansionism
Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny is the historical belief that the United States was destined and divinely ordained by God in Christianityto expand across the North American continent, from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean....
, sectionalism
Sectionalism

In national politics sectionalism is often a precursor to separatism.....
, tariffs, economics
Panic of 1857

The Panic of 1857 was a sudden downturn in the economy of the United States that occurred in 1857. A general recession first emerged late in 1856, but the successive failure of banks and businesses that characterized the panic began in mid-1857....
, and modernization in the Antebellum
Antebellum

"Antebellum" is an expression derived from Latin that means "before war" .In United States history and historiography, "antebellum" is commonly used, in lieu of "pre-Civil War," in reference to the period of increasing sectionalism that led up to the American Civil War....
 Period.

After the Mexican-American War, the issue of slavery in the new territories
Historic regions of the United States

These are historic regions of the United States, meaning regions that were legal entities in the past, or which the average modern American would no longer immediately recognize as a regional description....
 led to the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a series of bills aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War ....
. While the compromise averted an immediate political crisis, it did not permanently resolve the issue of The Slave Power (the power of slaveholders to control the national government).

Amid the emergence of increasingly virulent and hostile sectional ideologies in national politics, the collapse of the old Second Party System
Second Party System

The Second Party System is a term of periodization used by historians and political scientists to name the political system existing in the United States from about 1828 to 1854....
 in the 1850s hampered efforts of the politicians to reach yet one more compromise. The compromise that was reached (the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries....
) outraged many northerners. In the 1850s, with the rise of the Republican Party
History of the United States Republican Party

The Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States....
, the first major party with no appeal in the South, the industrializing North and agrarian Midwest became committed to the economic ethos of free-labor industrial capitalism.

Nominations


Republican Party nomination

The Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention

The Republican National Convention is the U.S. presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party . Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S....
 met in mid-May, after the Democrats had been forced to adjourn their convention in Charleston. With the Democrats in disarray and with a sweep of the Northern states possible, the Republicans
History of the United States Republican Party

The Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States....
 were confident going into their convention in Chicago
Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois and the Midwestern United States, as well as the List of United States cities by population city in the United States with more than 2.8 million residents....
. William H. Seward
William H. Seward

William Henry Seward, Sr. was a Governor of New York, United States Senate and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson....
 of New York was considered the front runner, followed by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
 of Illinois, Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase

Salmon Portland Chase was an United States politician and jurist in the American Civil War era who served as United States Senator from Ohio and List of Governors of Ohio of Ohio; as United States Secretary of the Treasury under President of the United States Abraham Lincoln; and as Chief Justice of the United States....
 of Ohio, and Missouri's Edward Bates
Edward Bates

Edward Bates was a United States lawyer and statesman. He served as United States Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864. He was also the brother of both Frederick Bates and James Woodson Bates....
.

As the convention developed, however, it was revealed that Seward, Chase, and Bates had each alienated factions of the Republican Party. Delegates were concerned that Seward was too closely identified with the radical wing of the party, and his moves toward the center had alienated the radicals. Chase, a former Democrat, had alienated many of the former Whigs
Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from 1833 to 1856, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President of the United States Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party ....
 by his coalition with the Democrats in the late 1840s, had opposed tariffs demanded by Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
, and critically, had opposition from his own delegation from Ohio
Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
. Bates outlined his positions on extension of slavery into the territories and equal constitutional rights for all citizens, positions that alienated his supporters in the border states and southern conservatives. German American
German American

German Americans are citizens of the United States of Germans ancestry, with traditions and self-identity based on German language and culture....
s in the party opposed Bates because of his past association with the Know Nothing
Know Nothing

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist United States political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S....
s.

Candidates: Image:Edward Bates - Brady-Handy.jpg|Former Representative
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
 Edward Bates
Edward Bates

Edward Bates was a United States lawyer and statesman. He served as United States Attorney General under Abraham Lincoln from 1861 to 1864. He was also the brother of both Frederick Bates and James Woodson Bates....
 of Missouri
Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
 Image:Smn Cameron-SecofWar.jpg|Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
 Simon Cameron
Simon Cameron

Simon Cameron was an United States politician who served as United States Secretary of War for Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War....
 of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
 Image:Salmon Chase, Brady-Handy photo portrait ca1855-1865.jpg|Former Governor of Ohio
List of Governors of Ohio

The following is a list of Governors of the State of Ohio and the Northwest Territory which preceded it. The Governor#United States is the head of the executive branch of Ohio's government and the commander-in-chief of the U.S....
 Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase

Salmon Portland Chase was an United States politician and jurist in the American Civil War era who served as United States Senator from Ohio and List of Governors of Ohio of Ohio; as United States Secretary of the Treasury under President of the United States Abraham Lincoln; and as Chief Justice of the United States....
 Image:Abraham_Lincoln_1860.jpg|Former Representative
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
 Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States. He successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery....
 of Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
 Image:William Seward, Secretary of State, bw photo portrait circa 1860-1865.jpg|Senator
United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism United States Congress, the lower house being the United States House of Representatives....
 William H. Seward
William H. Seward

William Henry Seward, Sr. was a Governor of New York, United States Senate and the United States Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson....
 of New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....

Since it was essential to carry the West, and because Lincoln had a national reputation from his debates and speeches as the most articulate moderate, he won the party's nomination on the third ballot on May 16, 1860. Senator Hannibal Hamlin
Hannibal Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin was the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, serving under President of the United States Abraham Lincoln from 1861-1865....
 of Maine
Maine

The State of Maine is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast....
 was nominated for vice president, defeating Cassius Clay of Missouri
Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
.

Vice Presidential Ballot
Ballot 1st 2nd
Hannibal Hamlin
Hannibal Hamlin

Hannibal Hamlin was the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States, serving under President of the United States Abraham Lincoln from 1861-1865....
 		194 367
Cassius M. Clay 100.5 86
John Hickman
John Hickman (congressman)

John Hickman was a Republican Party , Democratic Party and Anti-Lecompton Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania....
 		57 13
Andrew Horatio Reeder
Andrew Horatio Reeder

Andrew Horatio Reeder was the first governor of the Kansas Territory.Reeder was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, to Absolom Reeder and Christina Reeder....
 		51 0
Nathaniel Prentice Banks
Nathaniel Prentice Banks

Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an United States politician and soldier, served as Governor of Massachusetts, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and as a Union Army general during the American Civil War....
 		38.5 0
Henry Winter Davis
Henry Winter Davis

Henry Winter Davis was a United States Representative from the United States House of Representatives, Maryland District 4 and United States House of Representatives, Maryland District 3 districts of Maryland, well known as one of the Radical Republican during the American Civil War....
 		8 0
Sam Houston
Sam Houston

Samuel Houston was a 19th century United States statesman, politician, and soldier. Born on Timber Ridge, just north of Lexington, Virginia in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, Houston was a key figure in the history of Texas, including periods as President of the Republic of Texas, United States Senate for Te...
 		6 0
William L. Dayton
William L. Dayton

William Lewis Dayton was an United States politician.A distant relation of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and United States Constitution signatory Jonathan Dayton, he was born in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, New Jersey to farmer Joel Dayton and his wife....
 		3 0
John M. Reed 1 0


The party platform clearly stated that slavery
Slavery

Slavery is a form of forced labor where a person is compelled to Labor for another . Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase, or birth, and are deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive Remuneration in return for their labor....
 would not be allowed to spread any further, and it also promised that tariffs protecting industry would be imposed, a Homestead Act
Homestead Act

Homestead Act was a United States Federal law that gave an applicant freehold title to 160 acres -640 acres of undeveloped land outside of the original 13 colonies....
 granting free farmland in the West to settlers, and the funding of a transcontinental railroad
Transcontinental railroad

A Transcontinental Railroad is a railroad that crosses a continent from "coast-to-coast". Railroad terminal are at or connected to different oceans....
. All of these provisions were highly unpopular in the South.

Democratic Party nomination

Candidates:

The Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
 was divided over the issue of slavery. At the convention in Charleston in April 1860, 50 Southern Democrats walked out over a platform dispute, led by William Lowndes Yancey
William Lowndes Yancey

William Lowndes Yancey was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern Secession in the United States movement....
. Yancey and the Alabama delegation left the hall and they were followed by the delegates of Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Texas, and two of the three delegates from Delaware.

Six candidates were nominated: Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an United States politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the History of the United States Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860....
 of Illinois
Illinois

The State of Illinois is a U.S. state of the United States, the 21st to be admitted to the United States. Illinois is the most populous and demographically diverse Midwestern United States state and the fifth most populous state in the nation....
, Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States , succeeding to the Presidency upon Abraham Lincoln assassination of Abraham Lincoln....
 of Tennessee, Daniel S. Dickinson
Daniel S. Dickinson

Daniel Stevens Dickinson was a New York politician, most notable as a United States Senator from 1844 to 1851....
 of New York, Joseph Lane
Joseph Lane

Joseph Lane was an United States general during the Mexican-American War and a United States Senate from Oregon....
 of Oregon, James Guthrie of Kentucky, and Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter
Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter

Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter United States statesman, was born in Essex County, Virginia....
 of Virginia. Douglas, a moderate on the slavery issue who favored "popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty

Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the belief that the legitimacy of the state is created by the will or Consent of the governed, who are the source of all political power....
", was ahead on the first ballot, needing 57 more votes. On the 57th ballot, Douglas was still ahead, but still 50 votes short of nomination. In desperation, on May 3 the delegates agreed to stop voting and adjourn the convention.

The Democrats convened again at the Front Street Theater in Baltimore, Maryland
Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic States of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia and the Washington, D.C. to the south and west, Pennsylvania to the north, and Delaware to the east....
 on June 18. This time 110 southern delegates (led by “Fire-Eaters
Fire-Eaters

In United States History of the United States, the term Fire-Eaters refers to a group of extremist pro-History of slavery in the United States politicians from the Southern United States who urged the separation of southern states into a new nation, which became known as the Confederate States of America....
”) walked out when the convention would not adopt a resolution supporting extending slavery into territories whose voters did not want it. After many ballots, the remaining Democrats nominated the ticket of Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an United States politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the History of the United States Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860....
 of Illinois for President. Benjamin Fitzpatrick
Benjamin Fitzpatrick

Benjamin Fitzpatrick was an United States politician, who served as List of Governors of Alabama of Alabama and as United States Senate from Alabama as a United States Democratic Party....
 was nominated for vice president, but he refused the nomination. The nomination ultimately went to Herschel Vespasian Johnson
Herschel Vespasian Johnson

Herschel Vespasian Johnson was an United States of America politician. He was the governor of Georgia from 1853 to 1857 and the vice-presidential nominee of the Stephen A....
 of Georgia.

The Southern Democrats, led by Yancey, reconvened in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county....
, Virginia
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
, and on June 28 nominated the pro-slavery incumbent Vice President
Vice President of the United States

The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office in the United States of America created by the Constitution of the United States....
, John Cabell Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge

John Cabell Breckinridge was a lawyer, United States House of Representatives, United States Senate from Kentucky, the 14th Vice President of the United States, Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860, a Confederate States Army General officer in the American Civil War, and...
 of Kentucky, for President, and Joseph Lane
Joseph Lane

Joseph Lane was an United States general during the Mexican-American War and a United States Senate from Oregon....
 of Oregon for Vice President at the Maryland Institute, in Baltimore.

Constitutional Union Party nomination

Bell
Die-hard former Whigs
Whig Party (United States)

The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from 1833 to 1856, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President of the United States Andrew Jackson and the Democratic Party ....
 and Know Nothing
Know Nothing

The Know Nothing movement was a nativist United States political movement of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to U.S....
s who felt they could support neither the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major party contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party . It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world....
 nor the Republican Party formed the Constitutional Union Party
Constitutional Union Party (United States)

The Constitutional Union Party was a political party in the United States created in 1860. It was made up of conservative former United States Whig Party who wanted to avoid disunion over the History of slavery in the United States issue....
, nominating John Bell
John Bell (Tennessee politician)

John Bell was a United States politician, attorney, and plantation owner. A wealthy slaveholder from Tennessee, Bell served in the United States Congress in both the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate....
 of Tennessee for president over Governor
List of Governors of Texas

The following is a list of the Governors of the State of Texas. The governor#United States is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the U.S....
 Sam Houston
Sam Houston

Samuel Houston was a 19th century United States statesman, politician, and soldier. Born on Timber Ridge, just north of Lexington, Virginia in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley, Houston was a key figure in the history of Texas, including periods as President of the Republic of Texas, United States Senate for Te...
 of Texas
Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
 on the second ballot. Edward Everett
Edward Everett

Edward Everett was a Whig Party politician from Massachusetts. Everett was elected to the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, and also served as President of Harvard University, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to United Kingdom, and Governor of Massachusetts before being appointed...
 was nominated for vice president at the convention in Baltimore on May 9, 1860 (one week before Lincoln was nominated).

John Bell was a former Whig who had opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries....
 and the Lecompton Constitution
Lecompton Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas . The document was written in response to the anti-slavery position of the 1855 Topeka Constitution of James H....
. Edward Everett had been president of Harvard University
Harvard University

Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, United States, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the Colonial Colleges institution of higher learning in the United States....
 and Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State

The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's United States Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in United States presidential line of succession and United States order of precedence....
 in the Fillmore administration. The party platform advocated compromise to save the Union, with the slogan "the Union as it is, and the Constitution as it is."

General election


Campaign

The contest in the North was between Lincoln and Douglas, but only the latter took to the stump and gave speeches and interviews. In the South, John C. Breckinridge
John C. Breckinridge

John Cabell Breckinridge was a lawyer, United States House of Representatives, United States Senate from Kentucky, the 14th Vice President of the United States, Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860, a Confederate States Army General officer in the American Civil War, and...
 and John Bell
John Bell (Tennessee politician)

John Bell was a United States politician, attorney, and plantation owner. A wealthy slaveholder from Tennessee, Bell served in the United States Congress in both the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate....
 were the main rivals, but Douglas had an important presence in southern cities, especially among Irish American
Irish American

Irish Americans are citizens of the United States who can claim ancestry originating in Ireland. A total of 36,495,800 Americans reported Irish ancestry in the 2006 American Community Survey....
s. Fusion
Electoral fusion

Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political party support a common candidate, pooling the votes for all those parties. By offering to endorse or nominate a major party's candidate, minor parties can influence the candidate's platform....
 tickets of the non-Republicans developed in New York
New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
 and Rhode Island
Rhode Island

Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a U.S. state in the New England region of the United States....
, and partially in New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
 and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a U.S. state located in the Northeastern United States and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States....
 (the northern state in which Breckenridge made the best showing).

Storming the Castle (1860 Election)
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas

Stephen Arnold Douglas was an United States politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the History of the United States Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States in United States presidential election, 1860....
 was the first presidential candidate in history to undertake a nationwide speaking tour. He traveled to the South where he did not expect to win many electoral votes, but he spoke for the maintenance of the Union. The dispute over the Dred Scott
Dred Scott

Dred Scott , was a Slavery in the United States who sued unsuccessfully for his Freedom in the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857....
 case
Dred Scott v. Sandford

Dred Scott v. Sandford, , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that people of African descent Slavery in the United States and held as History of slavery in the United States, or their descendants?whether or not they were slaves?were not legal persons and could never be citizens of the United States, and that the U...
 had helped the Republicans easily dominate the Northern states' congressional delegations
36th United States Congress - State Delegations

The Thirty-sixth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives....
, allowing that party, although a newcomer on the political scene, easily to spread its popular influence.

Throughout the general election, Lincoln did not campaign or give speeches. This was handled by the state and county Republican organizations, who used the latest techniques to sustain party enthusiasm and thus obtain high turnout. There was little effort to convert non-Republicans, and there was virtually no campaigning in the South except for a few border cities such as St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St....
, and Wheeling, Virginia
Wheeling, West Virginia

Wheeling is a city in Marshall County, West Virginia and Ohio County, West Virginia counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Most of the city lies in Ohio County, for which it is the county seat....
; indeed, the party did not even run a slate in most of the South. In the North, there were thousands of Republican speakers, tons of campaign posters and leaflets, and thousands of newspaper editorials. These focused first on the party platform, and second on Lincoln's life story, making the most of his boyhood poverty, his pioneer background, his native genius, and his rise from obscurity. His nicknames, "Honest Abe" and "the Rail-Splitter," were exploited to the full. The goal was to emphasize the superior power of "free labor," whereby a common farm boy could work his way to the top by his own efforts.

The 1860 campaign was less frenzied than 1856
United States presidential election, 1856

The United States presidential election of 1856 was unusually heated. Republican candidate John Fremont condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and crusaded against the Slave Power and the expansion of slavery, while Democrat James Buchanan warned that the Republicans were extremists whose victory would lead to civil war....
, when the Republicans had crusaded zealously, and their opponents counter-crusaded with warnings of civil war. In 1860 every observer calculated the Republicans had an almost unbeatable advantage in the electoral college
Electoral college

An electoral college is a set of Votings who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entity, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way....
, since they dominated almost every northern state. Republicans felt victory at hand, and used para-military campaign organizations like the Wide Awakes
Wide Awakes

The Wide Awakes was a paramilitary campaign organization affiliated with the Republican Party during the 1860 election. Similar organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party were called the "Douglas Invincibles", "Young Hickories" or "Earthquakes"....
 to rally their supporters (see American election campaigns in the 19th century
American election campaigns in the 19th Century

In the 19th century, the United States invented or developed a number of new methods for conducting American Election Campaigns. For the most part the techniques were original and were not copied from Europe or anywhere else....
 for campaign techniques).

Results

The election was held on November 6. It was noteworthy for the exaggerated sectionalism of the vote, with Lincoln not even on the ballot in nine Southern states - and winning only two of 996 counties in the entire South (in the 1856 election, the Republican candidate for president had received no votes in 13 of the 15 slave states). In the six states still permitting slavery where he was on the ballot, he came in fourth in every state except Delaware (3rd). Breckinridge, who was the sitting Vice-President of the United States and the only candidate to later support secession, won all the states that would form the Confederacy
Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America formed as the government set up from 1861 to 1865 by eleven Southern United States U.S. state of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S....
 except Virginia and Tennessee. Breckinridge also lost in the future border states of Missouri and Kentucky (his birth state), but won the states of Delaware and Maryland (both of which also still permitted slavery) by pluralities.

Lincoln won an electoral majority without an absolute majority of total popular votes. While Lincoln captured less than 40% of the popular vote, the divisions of the nation allowed him to capture 17 states plus four electoral votes in New Jersey, for a total of 180 electoral votes. Although the three-way split of the non-Republican vote confuses the issue, the vote split was irrelevant to Lincoln's victory because he would have won an outright majority in the electoral vote, 169-134, even if the 60% of voters who supported other candidates united behind a single candidate. Except for California, Oregon, and New Jersey, Lincoln won a popular majority in every state that cast its electoral votes for him. Only in California, Oregon, and Illinois was Lincoln's victory margin less than seven percent.

Stephen Douglas finished second in the popular vote, but because his support was relatively evenly distributed between both northern and southern states he garnered only Missouri
Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
's nine electoral votes and three of seven electoral votes in New Jersey
New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
, good for fourth place. Bell won Kentucky
Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a U.S. state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern United States , but it is uncommonly included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwestern United States....
, Tennessee
Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States United States. In 1796, it became the sixteenth state to join the United States....
, and Virginia's
Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
 electors, while Breckinridge won every other slave state except Missouri.

Contrary to popular myth, Lincoln was not a third party candidate. The Republicans had already established themselves as the second major party in the 1856 election
United States presidential election, 1856

The United States presidential election of 1856 was unusually heated. Republican candidate John Fremont condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and crusaded against the Slave Power and the expansion of slavery, while Democrat James Buchanan warned that the Republicans were extremists whose victory would lead to civil war....
 by coming in second in that race.

The voter turnout rate in 1860 was the second-highest on record (81.2%, second only to 1876, with 81.8%). The Fusion ticket of non-Republicans drew 595,846 votes.

It is interesting to note that had roughly 26,000 New Yorkers voted for Douglas instead of Lincoln, then Lincoln would have failed to achieve the electoral majority, as he would have lost New York's 35 electoral votes and only received 145 total (152 was required to achieve the majority). In this instance, the vote would have gone to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as "the House", is one of the bicameralism of the United States Congress; the other is the United States Senate....
, and some historians have speculated that the Southern-controlled House of Representatives would have cast their vote for the Southern Democratic nomination, John C. Breckinridge, under the urging of William Yancey.

Source (Popular Vote): Source (Electoral Vote):

(a) The popular vote figures exclude South Carolina
South Carolina

South Carolina is a U.S. state in the Southern United States of the United States. It borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north....
 where the Electors were chosen by the state legislature rather than by popular vote.

Results by state

Abraham Lincoln
Republican		 Stephen Douglas
(Northern) Democrat		 John Breckinridge
Southern Democrat		 John Bell
Constitutional Union		 State Total
State electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 # % electoral
votes		 #
Alabama 9 not on ballot 13,618 15.1 - 48,669 54.0 9 27,835 30.9 - 90,122 AL
Arkansas 4 not on ballot 5,357 9.9 - 28,732 53.1 4 20,063 37.0 - 54,152 AR
California 4 38,733 32.3 4 37,999 31.7 - 33,969 28.4 - 9,111 7.6 - 119,812 CA
Connecticut 6 43,488 58.1 6 15,431 20.6 - 14,372 19.2 - 1,528 2.0 - 74,819 CT
Delaware 3 3,822 23.7 - 1,066 6.6 - 7,339 45.5 3 3,888 24.1 - 16,115 DE
Florida 3 not on ballot 223 1.7 - 8,277 62.2 3 4,801 36.1 - 13,301 FL
Georgia 10 not on ballot 11,581 10.9 - 52,176 48.9 10 42,960 40.3 - 106,717 GA
Illinois 11 172,171 50.7 11 160,215 47.2 - 2,331 0.7 - 4,914 1.4 - 339,631 IL
Indiana 13 139,033 51.1 13 115,509 42.4 - 12,295 4.5 - 5,306 1.9 - 272,143 IN
Iowa 4 70,302 54.6 4 55,639 43.2 - 1,035 0.8 - 1,763 1.4 - 128,739 IA
Kentucky 12 1,364 0.9 - 25,651 17.5 - 53,143 36.3 - 66,058 45.2 12 146,216 KY
Louisiana 6 not on ballot 7,625 15.1 - 22,681 44.9 6 20,204 40.0 - 50,510 LA
Maine 8 62,811 62.2 8 29,693 29.4 - 6,368 6.3 - 2,046 2.0 - 100,918 ME
Maryland 8 2,294 2.5 - 5,966 6.4 - 42,482 45.9 8 41,760 45.1 - 92,502 MD
Massachusetts 13 106,684 62.9 13 34,370 20.3 - 6,163 3.6 - 22,331 13.2 - 169,548 MA
Michigan 6 88,481 57.2 6 65,057 42.0 - 805 0.5 - 415 0.3 - 154,758 MI
Minnesota 4 22,069 63.4 4 11,920 34.3 - 748 2.2 - 50 0.1 - 34,787 MN
Mississippi 7 not on ballot 3,282 4.7 - 40,768 59.0 7 25,045 36.2 - 69,095 MS
Missouri 9 17,028 10.3 - 58,801 35.5 9 31,362 18.9 - 58,372 35.3 - 165,563 MO
New Hampshire 5 37,519 56.9 5 25,887 39.3 - 2,125 3.2 - 412 0.6 - 65,943 NH
New Jersey 7 58,346 48.1 4 62,869 51.9 3 partial fusion ticket with Douglas 121,215 NJ
New York 35 362,646 53.7 35 312,510 46.3 -fusion ticket with Douglas 675,156 NY
North Carolina 10 not on ballot 2,737 2.8 - 48,846 50.5 10 45,129 46.7 - 96,712 NC
Ohio 23 231,709 52.3 23 187,421 42.3 - 11,406 2.6 - 12,194 2.8 - 442,730 OH
Oregon 3 5,329 36.1 3 4,136 28.0 - 5,075 34.4 - 218 1.5 - 14,758 OR
Pennsylvania 27 268,030 56.3 27 16,765 3.5 - 178,871 37.5 - 12,776 2.7 - 476,442 PA
Rhode Island 4 12,244 61.4 4 7,707 38.6 - fusion ticket with Douglas 19,951 RI
South Carolina 8 - - 8 - - SC
Tennessee 12 not on ballot 11,281 7.7 - 65,097 44.6 - 69,728 47.7 12 146,106 TN
Texas 4 not on ballot 18 0.0 - 47,454 75.5 4 15,383 24.5 - 62,855 TX
Vermont 5 33,808 75.7 5 8,649 19.4 - 218 0.5 - 1,969 4.4 - 44,644 VT
Virginia 15 1,887 1.1 - 16,198 9.7 - 74,325 44.5 - 74,481 44.6 15 166,891 VA
Wisconsin 5 86,110 56.6 5 65,021 42.7 - 887 0.6 - 161 0.1 - 152,179 WI
TOTALS: 303 1,865,908 39.8 180 1,380,202 29.5 12 848,019 18.1 72 590,901 12.6 39 4,685,030
TO WIN: 152


See also

  • American election campaigns in the 19th century
    American election campaigns in the 19th Century

    In the 19th century, the United States invented or developed a number of new methods for conducting American Election Campaigns. For the most part the techniques were original and were not copied from Europe or anywhere else....
  • Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln
    Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln

    Electoral history of Abraham Lincoln, the List of United States presidents President of the United States....
  • History of the United States (1849–1865)
    History of the United States (1849–1865)

    The History of the United States included the American Civil War and the turbulent years leading up to it, which included many events that were critical in its origins of the American Civil War....
  • History of the United States Democratic Party
  • History of the United States Republican Party
    History of the United States Republican Party

    The Republican Party is the second oldest currently existing political party in the United States....
  • Third Party System
    Third Party System

    The Third Party System is a term of periodization used by some historians and political scientists to describe a period in American political history from about 1854 to the mid-1890s that featured profound developments in issues of nationalism, modernization, and race....
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1860
  • Wide Awakes
    Wide Awakes

    The Wide Awakes was a paramilitary campaign organization affiliated with the Republican Party during the 1860 election. Similar organizations affiliated with the Democratic Party were called the "Douglas Invincibles", "Young Hickories" or "Earthquakes"....


Footnotes


External links

  • at the
  • - Michael Sheppard, Michigan State University